A Cure-All to Your Supermarket Catatonia!

This afternoon, in the somewhat stuffy 3rd floor room of the Elmer Holmes Bobst Library at NYU, I sat, listened, and learned a bit about how to shop for my food from Dr. Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of NYU’s Department of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health. First of all, aren’t we all just sick and tired of people telling us what to or what not to eat? One day, this is ok; the next, it’s toxic and we will surely die from it. But it’s funny, ‘they’ never really tell us why we can or can’t eat it. They just bark out orders, and we follow blindly along. We are stressed, depressed, hurried, bored, overweight, & just attempting to squeeze in thoughts in between all of that about what in the world do we eat for dinner. Well, folks, Dr. Marion Nestle, author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health and Safe Food: Bacteria, Biotechnology, and Bioterrorism, just came out with a new book — What to Eat: An Aisle-by-Aisle Guide to Savvy Food Choices and Good Eating. Although it isn’t the thinnest book out there, and yet one other thing we have to fit into our schedule, reading Marion’s latest controversial book may allow us the clarity to decipher all of these what-to’s and what-not-to’s, and make our shopping skills a bit more savvy, not to mention the experience enjoyable. Although, Dr. Nestle doesn’t really cook — as she reminds us, she does live in New York City after all; the land of miniscule kitchens and an overabundance of restaurants — she did research her study extensively beginning with Wegman’s and moving along through the Internet as well as on to interviews. And, she has a very extensive cv (check it out on her site). What to Eat answers questions regarding organic vs. non, lbs. vs. price, does more expensive equal better quality, red vs. green vs. purple. You get the picture. Are these questions important to us? To some, no. Those shoppers just always choose plain bagels and store brand peanut butter. But to many, including myself, these questions are endlessly nagging at our pant leg like a whiney child, and a little trustworthy guidance might not be such a bad thing. Thank you, Dr. Nestle, for caring and for educating us out here in ‘supermarket-land.’ Have a delicious day!